Star Wars Baking Challenge — Week 4, A New Hope

This week, it’s all about Episode 4: A New Hope! I love a good origin story, so A New Hope has always been one of my favorites in the saga. I love meeting Luke, Obi-Wan, Han Solo, Princess Leia — I could go on and on — and being introduced to George Lucas’ creative galaxy.

For my recipe inspired by A New Hope, I chose to make a three-tiered cake inspired by the iconic, breathtaking binary sunset on Tatooine.

Depending on the shot, you may see various colors of the sky in the film, but for my cake, I chose this purple and pink sky when Luke is seen longing for galactic adventure.

CAKE BAKING TIPS: Grease your cake pans and then sprinkle flour all over the surface. Next, cut out a circular piece of parchment paper and lay it on the base of the pan before pouring the batter into the pans. These steps will help your cakes slide right out of the pan once they cool.

Once your cakes are out of the oven, set them aside to cool. Then, using a serrated knife, level off the top of the cake, if needed.

Before you begin to ice your cooled cakes, place several small pieces of parchment paper on your cake stand or cake plate and then place your first cake on top. By doing this, you will help to keep your cake plate clean and free of extra icing while you work.

Next, it’s time to prepare your buttercream icing.

Using a stand or hand mixer, beat your softened butter, vanilla, and a tablespoon or so of milk until blended and smooth. (I let my stand mixer go for several minutes until the butter mixture is creamy). Slowly add your sifted powdered sugar, a few cups at a time, until all of it is incorporated. Next, add one tablespoon of milk at a time, if needed, until you reach your desired frosting consistency. Taste test to be sure it’s perfect! 🙂

Add a generous amount of icing to the top of your first cake. Then, using your angled spatula, smooth the icing out across the top of the first cake.

Once your icing is smooth and even, place your second cake on top. Repeat the process, adding a layer of icing to the top of the second cake. Spread the icing across the top of the second cake with your angled spatula and spread the excess icing over the edge of the cake. Repeat process for your third cake, smoothing the top icing layer.

For my sunset cake, I chose to blend purple, pink, and white icing to achieve my look. Separate some of your white icing into two separate small bowls. Add purple food coloring to the first bowl and add pink food coloring to the second bowl. Additionally, set aside some extra white icing in case it is needed for touch ups.

Starting with the dark purple share, spread purple icing around the bottom of your cake, creating an uneven border. Repeat the process for your pink icing in the middle section of your cake.

Oh, and don’t worry if your cake looks like mine while you’re icing your rows! The next step will smooth everything out!

Using your angled spatula or your icing scraper, carefully smooth the icing around the edge of your cake, removing the excess icing as needed. Make sure to keep the spatula touching the cake stand or plate as you “drag” it around the cake, this will help your icing colors not to blend too much from how you applied it, however, a sunset does not have perfect lines! Blending the colors between each other is what gives this cake its signature look!

Smooth the edges of the top of your cake and, if needed, add extra white icing to smooth the top of the cake.

Place your cake in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes or so, then remove it and touch up the icing by filling in any gaps, smoothing the edges, etc.

Clean the base of your cake stand of any excess icing (or transfer your cake to a plate or stand if you used cake boards). Use your remaining purple icing with a medium round tip to pipe a border around the base.

Next, cut out two small circles for your moons and tape them to wooden skewers. Stick them in the top of your cake to achieve your binary sunset.

Finally, add graham cracker crumbs around the edges of the cake to represent the sand of Tattooine. Place your R2-D2 and C-3PO figures next to the cake.

And there you have it! A lovely Tatooine sunset cake with two of my favorite droids!

“We seem to be made to suffer. It’s our lot in life.” –C-3PO

But cake does make it better, if I do say so myself.

Have you been following my Star Wars Baking Challenge? Check out my other Star Wars recipes as I countdown to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker!

5 Comments

So there are two especially great things about this cake: it’s ombre and it’s naked. Like – how fun!!! And I love that it could be made for someone even if they’re not a Star Wars fan, since it’s a pretty versatile style. But the addition of the two moons and the R2-D2 and C-3PO are excellent!